Opportunities
for Students
Harvard Radcliffe Institute is one of the world’s leading centers for interdisciplinary exploration. We bring students, scholars, artists, and practitioners together to pursue curiosity-driven research, expand human understanding, and grapple with questions that demand insight from across disciplines.
The Institute is unique among Harvard schools: Although we do not award degrees, we offer unparalleled opportunities for undergraduates and graduate students. Harvard Radcliffe Institute provides learning and research experiences that are difficult to find in a traditional classroom setting. Radcliffe students work directly with our fellows and faculty, providing unique opportunities for mentorship, and they work across departmental boundaries, connecting with peers across the University. Harvard Radcliffe Institute enriches the Harvard student experience by fostering interdisciplinary, engaged scholarship focused on the most pressing issues of our time.
Fund Your Research or Project
Radcliffe Engaged Student Grant Program
The Radcliffe Engaged Student Grant Program provides $1,500 stipends per project to support the research, creative, and service work of Harvard undergraduate and graduate students on topics related to the Radcliffe Engaged focus areas. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2022–2023 academic year.
More on the Radcliffe Engaged Student Grant Program
Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Student Grant Program
The Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Student Grant Program provides $1,500 stipends per project to support the research and creative work of Harvard undergraduate and graduate students on the topic of Harvard and the legacy of slavery, broadly defined. Applications will reopen in late November for the spring 2023 term.
More on the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Student Grant Program
Carol K. Pforzheimer Student Fellowships
Carol K. Pforzheimer Student Fellowships provide funding to Harvard undergraduates to do research in the Schlesinger Library's collections. Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library is committed to supporting students to pursue their own research. Applications for this grant are currently being accepted. All applications must be received by February 26, 2023 at 11:59 PM ET.
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Graduate Student Fellowships
PhD candidates at all Harvard faculties who plan to finish writing their dissertation in 2022–2023 are invited to apply. Graduate student fellows participate in the Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program by attending all weekly fellows’ talks and lunches and are invited, though not required, to present their own work in a talk to the fellows. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2021–2022 academic year.
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Radcliffe Institute Public Art Competition
The Radcliffe Institute Public Art Competition (RIPAC) is opened to all undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled in a Harvard degree program. The student or design teams who submit the winning design proposal will receive an $8,000 honorarium and up to $10,000 in funding for the fabrication and installation of the work. We welcome proposals that connect the arts with the Institute’s focus areas in climate change; law, education, and justice; and legacies of slavery. Proposals that reflect Radcliffe’s unique history and institutional legacy, that center on women, gender, and society, or that draw on the Schlesinger Library’s rich collections, are also of strong interest to the review committee. The deadline to apply is 5 PM ET on January 27, 2023.
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Conduct Research with Faculty and Fellows
Radcliffe Research Partnerships
The Radcliffe Research Partnership (RRP) program matches Harvard College students with Radcliffe fellows in a research and mentorship program. Fellows act as mentors, while students provide research assistance, acquire valuable research skills, and participate in the Institute’s rich intellectual life. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
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Multidisciplinary Student Research Collaborators
The Multidisciplinary Student Research Collaborators (MSRC) program allows Harvard undergraduate and graduate students to work as researchers in support of Radcliffe’s private programs. MSRC students aid in the preparation of content in the lead-up to the private programs and/or contribute to the post-program publication and production of program projects and deliverables in whatever specific form(s) that entails. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
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Explore Internships & Working Groups
Law, Education, and Justice Working Groups
Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s Law, Education, and Justice (LEJ) working groups center dialogue and give students the opportunity to engage deeply and build community around important topics within LEJ. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2022–2023 academic year.
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Radcliffe Community-Based Student Internships
The Radcliffe Community-Based Student Internship (CBSI) program matches Harvard undergraduate and graduate students with community organizations, based largely in the greater Boston area, for paid spring term internships. The program aims to foster community engagement by providing experiential learning opportunities to students that have real-world impact, while building new, meaningful relationships among community-based organizations, Harvard students, and the Institute. Click below for a full list of spring internship opportunities. Applications are due by 11:59 PM on Monday, November 7, 2022.
More on Community-Based Student InternshipsGain Leadership Experience and Training
Student Advisory Board
Student Advisory Board (SAB) members shape student-related programs and experiences and represent the Institute at their respective schools and departments. Through interdisciplinary and engaged work, SAB members collaborate with students across Harvard schools, departments, and classes to shape and share Radcliffe resources and opportunities with other Harvard students. The SAB is open to Harvard undergraduate and graduate students. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2022–2023 Academic year.
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Emerging Leaders Program
The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) is a youth leadership development program partnering local high school sophomores with current Harvard undergraduates in a mentoring relationship. Together, mentees and mentors challenge limited conceptions of who can be a leader as they build critical skills to drive positive change. Applications for the 2022–2023 academic year are currently closed. Please e-mail Amanda Lubniewski at amanda_lubniewski@radcliffe.harvard.edu if you would like to be added to the waitlist.
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Find Student Employment at Radcliffe
Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s work spans all disciplines and professions. The Institute provides invaluable support to scholars and students pursuing pathbreaking research and creative projects, including Radcliffe fellows, participants in seminars and workshops, and those inspired by the Schlesinger Library’s rich collections. Harvard Radcliffe Institute also offers a wide range of events and exhibitions, which are free and open to the public. These programs reflect our commitment to expanding access to the University and to supporting the robust exchange of ideas.
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We’re grateful for you—Happy Thanksgiving! 📷 Boy and girls dressed as Pilgrims, posed with trays of food, ca. 1940–1945. Part of North Bennet Street Industrial School Records, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard Radcliffe Institute
On Election Day in 1916, Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to US Congress, to represent Montana in the House—four years before women were granted the vote nationwide by the 19th Amendment (but two years after she helped pass her home state’s suffrage amendment). Her papers are housed in our Schlesinger Library. This photo, taken between 1949 and 1951, shows Rankin at Avalanche Ranch, her residence in Helena, Montana, now a National Historic Landmark. 📷 is part of the Edna Bertha Rankin McKinnon Papers, Schlesinger Library
The Age of Roe: The Past, Present, and Future of Abortion in America is now on display through March 4 in the Schlesinger Library. The exhibition rethinks what Roe has meant to American society, culture, and politics. It tells the story of abortion in the United States—from criminalization to constitutionalization and back again—through the eyes of those who created and defended Roe and those who mourned and unmade it, those at the center of politics and those at the margins. Their stories suggest that even after the reversal of the 1973 decision, the age of Roe will continue to cast a long shadow over our ideas of reproduction and justice. By listening to those who experienced the age of Roe, we can see how the past shaped our present moment and begin to find a way beyond it. Visit the exhibition in the Lia and William Poorvu Gallery, open Monday–Friday, 9 AM–4:30 PM. These pro-choice and pro-life buttons are from the collections of our Schlesinger Library. 📸 @juliafeatherphoto
